Pyramid (solitaire)

The initial layout of the game of Pyramid.

Pyramid is a solitaire game where the object is to get all the cards from the pyramid to the foundation.

Rules

The object of the game is to remove pairs of cards that add up to the total of the highest card in the deck from a pyramid arrangement of 28 cards.

When using the standard 52-card deck, Jacks value at 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13. So the highest value is 13. Playing with a 48-card Spanish deck the highest numbers are also the Kings at 12, so the pairs must add up to 12.

To set up the pyramid, one card is dealt face up at the top of the playing area, then two cards beneath and partially covering it, then three beneath them, and so on completing with a row of seven cards for a total of 28 cards dealt. The remaining cards are placed to the side face down. This is the Stock.

To play, pairs of exposed cards can be removed to the Foundation if their values total 13 (12 if using the Spanish deck). Thus, kings can be removed immediately to the Foundation. Cards must not be covered. Thus when an Ace rests on a Queen, that Queen can not be removed.

You may draw cards from the Stock one at a time and match it with any exposed card. If no match is made the drawn Stock card is still discarded into the Foundation.

Once the Stock is exhausted and/or no more pairs can be made, the game ends.

To score, count the number of remaining face up cards in the pyramid. A perfect score is therefore zero, where all cards have been matched into the Foundation..

Conditions for winning

To be considered won, all cards (cards from the pyramid and cards from the stock) must be moved to the foundation; the game cannot be won if at least two cards cannot be moved from the stock.

Variations

• Relaxed Pyramid Solitaire: to be considered won, all cards from the pyramid must be moved to the foundation; the game can still be won with cards left in the stock.
• Redeals may be allowed.
• Three cards at a time from the stack, repeating until no matches can be made; placing all cards totalling 13 in a stack.
• Alternatively, seven cards are dealt below the pyramid. These cards can match each other exposed cards in the pyramid or from the stack.
• Another addition is playing Pyramid Solitaire with a cell, filled either from the tableau or from the waste upcard.
• Several variations allow a card on the pyramid to be removed in combination with a card covered by the first, so long as neither card is covered by a card not in the combo. For example, in the case of an exposed ace resting on a queen, the queen can be removed with the ace if no other cards are covering them, but if (for example) a jack is also on the queen, the queen cannot be removed. Other versions require that both cards be fully exposed to begin with.
• Giza: In a version created by Michael Keller, after the pyramid is formed, the rest of the deck is dealt as three rows of eight cards (i.e. eight columns of three overlapping cards) with the exposed cards open to match the exposed cards from the pyramid or other exposed cards.^[1]

Computer implementations

A variation of the game was released on the Microsoft Entertainment Pack in 1990, under the name Tut's Tomb. It has also been added to Microsoft Solitaire Collection for Windows 8, Windows 10, Android, and iOS.

References